Hollywood Man Held On Illegal Gun Charge

A Fort Lauderdale convenience store owner was held on a gun charge Wednesday after the South Florida Joint Terrorism Task Force raided his Hollywood home.

Ali Mahmud al-Madi, 48, faces a bond hearing today on an indictment charging him with possessing an illegal shotgun.

Al-Madi was arrested at 6:15 a.m. Wednesday by federal agents and Hollywood police at his house on North 40th Avenue in Emerald Hills. Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI then returned with a search warrant for his house and car and discovered two handguns, according to federal law enforcement sources.

He appeared before a federal magistrate, and was about to post a $10,000 bond Wednesday afternoon, but was denied after the U.S. Attorney's Office requested a hearing today to present new evidence that he illegally possessed the handguns.

It was unclear Wednesday what the Joint Terrorism Task Force -- the federal government's multi-agency group in charge of investigating terrorism -- wants with al-Madi, who was free on bond in a separate state case.

Al-Madi was charged on Oct. 31 with dealing in stolen over-the-counter pharmaceuticals at his Sistrunk Meat Market at Northwest Sixth Street and Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, according to court records. He is awaiting trial in Broward Circuit court on that charge.

It was during his October arrest that authorities confiscated the shotgun, and a subsequent investigation led to his Wednesday arrest.

The shotgun charge carries a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Previous South Florida investigations have targeted Arab-owned convenience stores as possible money-laundering sources for terrorist groups, but there has been no evidence presented to link al-Madi with such activity.

A search warrant affidavit filed by ATF agent Kevin Bonikowski said agents found in the house a photo of a battery with wires and a switch, initially leading them to suspect al-Madi had some kind of "destructive device."

It turned out to be his son's school science project on electricity.

The affidavit also accuses al-Madi of possessing "contraband cigarettes'' and states he also had numerous packages of unopened, nonprescription medication in the house.

Bonikowski and other agents searching the house Wednesday afternoon declined comment, as did the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Neither al-Madi's family nor his Fort Lauderdale lawyer could be reached Wednesday evening.

In 1990, state and federal officials in Miami raided convenience stores in Miami and charged 10 owners and employees with selling stolen cigarettes, beer and even condoms.

Investigators said at the time that the Palestinian store owners were funneling money to militant organizations in the Middle East. Local Arab-American leaders called the arrests racist, the investigation never blossomed and similar investigations in Broward County fizzled.

It's not surprising that al-Madi had a shotgun at his store when he was arrested in October.

In 1991 he was shot in the elbow while working at the Food Basket on Sistrunk Boulevard, just down the block from his current store, and in 1992 he was shot five times in the chest with his own gun during a fight with a man who lived next to his store.

Al-Madi's neighbors in the largely Jewish, upper-middle class neighborhood of Emerald Hills were nervous before Wednesday, knowing that FBI agents had been out to speak with al-Madi last week.

Six residents living nearby said the al-Madis were a quiet family who had lived there for several years. They said they believed al-Madi is from Jordan.

None of them would give their names.

One neighbor, walking her dog at about 6 p.m., asked ATF agents, "Is it safe to live on the block?"

The agents assured her it was.

Jeff Shields can be reached at jshields@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4531.